The Nutcracker and the Mouse Queen

Chapter 4: Wonders

As you enter the Stahlbaum family living room from the front door, to your left is a beautiful glass-fronted cabinet in which the children keep all of the wonderful things they receive every year. Louis was still very small when their mother hired a skilled carpenter to build the cabinet, and he used such brilliant panes of glass and set them so skillfully that anything you put inside looked brighter and prettier than when you held it in your hands.

In the highest shelf (too high for Félicie and Marlon to reach) were Godmother Drosselmeier's works of art. On the shelf below were the picture-books, and on the two shelves below that Félicie and Marlon could put whatever they wanted, though it always happened that Marlon put his dolls on the bottom shelf and Félicie quartered her soldiers on the shelf above it.

And so tonight Félicie put his hussars in the second shelf, and Marlon moved Madame Trudie out of the way to make room for her new doll in the beautifully-furnished room and invited herself in for sweets.

As I've said, the room was very beautifully-furnished, and that's the truth. I don't know whether you, my attentive reader, have such a nice miniature flower-print sofa, charming little chairs, an adorable tea-table - and best of all, a bed with a bright and shiny frame for your most beautiful dolls to rest on. Everything stood in the cabinet's corner, where the walls were papered with colorful little pictures, and you can well imagine that the new doll Marlon had received (whose name was , as Marlon had learned that evening) was quite content with her quarters.

It was now very late - almost midnight, and Godmother Drosselmeier had long since gone home. But the children did not want to leave the cabinet, so their mother had to remind them that it was time for bed.

"You're right," Félicie said finally. "The poor fellows-" (referring to his hussars) "-want a little peace and quiet, and they don't dare nod off while I'm still around!" And so Félicie scampered off.

But Marlon said, "Just a little while longer, just a minute. Leave me here, Papa. I have some things to take care of, and once I finish I'll go straight to bed."

Marlon was a trustworthy child, so his father knew he could leave him alone with the toys without worry. Still, he was concerned that Marlon might be so distracted by his new doll and the other new toys that he might forget to put out the lights before leaving, so Mr. Stahlbaum extinguished all of the lights except for the one that hung from the middle of the ceiling, which cast a gentle, graceful light into the room.

"Come to bed soon, dear, or you won't be able to get up on time!" he called as he left for his bedroom. Once Marlon was alone, he hurried to do what had been on his mind, something that he wasn't sure why he hadn't been able to mention to his father earlier. He carried the injured Nutcracker to the table and gently set him there, where he unwrapped his scarf bandages to see the wound. The Nutcracker was very pale, but she smiled a kind, sad smile that wrenched his heart.

"Oh, Nutcracker," she said softly, "I know Félicie hurt you badly, but he didn't mean any harm. It's just that his wild soldier's life has made him a little hard-hearted, but otherwise he's a very good boy. I promise I'll take very good care of you until you're healthy and happy and can use your teeth and stand with your shoulders straight. Godmother Drosselmeier will fix you up, he knows all about-"

Marlon could not finish what he had started saying because when he had said the name "Drosselmeier," Nutcracker's face had turned up in disgust and her eyes shot green sparks. But just as he became frightened, Nutcracker looked at him with her kind, sad smile again. Marlon realized that the awful face he had seen was only a trick of the light caused by the flickering lamp above.

"I'm not a silly boy who gets scared so easily, who thinks that a wooden doll could make faces!" Marlon told himself. "But I love Nutcracker because she's so funny and kind, which is why she must be looked after - which is proper."